Hazleton kidnapping suspect caught in NYC after crime spree

ELLEN F. O’CONNELL/Staff Photographer Hazleton Police Chief Frank V. DeAndrea holds a photo of Luis Figueroa, 33, during a press conference held on Friday at City Hall. Figueroa was taken into custody by New York State Police after he crashed into a roadblock on the George Washington Bridge. Schools in the Hazleton Area School District were put on lockdown after a scantily clothed woman who was 8-months pregnant banged on the door of a school bus that was passing 149 North Church Street in Hazleton before the start of school. The bus driver refused to open the door after a man, identified as Figueroa, who was carrying a gun, came out of that residence. Upon investigation, Hazleton police found that Figueroa abducted another woman. The vehicle the two were in was found in a national park in New Jersey where Figueroa stole a park rangerâ€™s vehicle. He later tried to sell it at a dealership in Patterson, New Jersey. After the sales person refused, a fight ensued and Figueroa tried to set the sales person on fire then set the dealership on fire and stole an Escalade. While trying to flee to New York he crashed into the roadblock and was taken into custody by New York State Police. The abducted woman escaped in the area of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and was taken to a local hospital. Also pictured is Luzerne County District Attorney Stephanie Salavantis.

A suspect in a Hazleton kidnapping was taken into custody Friday afternoon after leading police on a manhunt that encompassed three states.

Hazleton police Chief Frank DeAndrea said Luis Figueroa, 33, was captured in New York City after he crashed a stolen vehicle into a roadblock police set for him on the George Washington Bridge.

By that point, Figueroa had kidnapped a woman in Hazleton, stolen two vehicles, assaulted a park ranger and car salesman, and set fire to a New Jersey car dealership.

“For some reason, this man snapped today,” DeAndrea said at a press conference Friday afternoon at City Hall.

The Express-Times of Easton reported that Figueroa has addresses in Ridgefield, New Jersey, and the Bronx, New York.

DeAndrea said the incident began at 8:20 a.m. Friday when a “scantily clothed” pregnant woman begged a Hazleton Area School District bus driver for help as Figueroa attempted to abduct her from a home at 149 N. Church St.

“She was beating on the door requesting that the bus driver open the doors to the bus,” DeAndrea said. “The bus was full of students. As the bus driver was trying to figure out what to do, she looked up again to see Mr. Figueroa racing out of the house, bloody, carrying a shotgun.”

For the students’ safety, the bus driver didn’t open the door. She reported the incident to police and school officials.

As the pregnant woman fled, Figueroa dragged another adult female from the home, forced her into his vehicle and left the city, police said.

Police arrived minutes later and found two children inside the home.

“At this point we were unable to determine whose children these were — all we knew was we did confirm that there was a man with a gun and that he might go to one of the schools thinking that the kids got on the bus, went to the school and we needed to make sure that we kept these students safe,” DeAndrea said.

As a result, he said, Hazleton Area School District schools in the city and West Hazleton were placed on lockdown. DeAndrea said the pregnant woman was “apparently struck” and was flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest for treatment of her injuries. He was unsure of her condition as of Friday afternoon.

The children were unharmed and placed in protective custody.

Figueroa, who had a protection from abuse order from one of the women, drove east on Interstate 80 with the kidnapped woman, DeAndrea said.

Later in the morning, he stole an off-duty National Park Service ranger’s vehicle near the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, DeAndrea said.

While he didn’t have details on the incident, the Pocono Record reported that a park visitors’ center was temporarily closed as rangers and state police from Pennsylvania and New Jersey investigated an assault and carjacking. A park employee was assaulted and taken to the hospital, the newspaper reported.

“At that point, the female that he abducted escaped,” DeAndrea said. “The information is sketchy but I believe that due to her injuries from Mr. Figueroa, she has now been life-flighted to another emergency treatment center.”

According to the Express-Times, New Jersey State Police say they received a 911 call at 9:43 a.m. from a woman who had escaped from the vehicle when Figueroa pulled into the Kittatinny Point Visitor Center in Hardwick Township, New Jersey. The woman managed to phone for help at the Knowlton Township Post Office, according to Trooper Jeff Flynn.

Figueroa assaulted a parks worker at the visitor center and then stole the employee’s 2005 red Dodge Caravan. State police recovered a shotgun in the area of the visitor center, Flynn said, but he could not say whether the suspect used it in the assault.

Figueroa continued on to Paterson, New Jersey, where he attempted to trade in the park ranger’s vehicle for a Cadillac Escalade.

“An argument ensued with the car dealership dealer. (Figueroa) beat the dealer, set the dealership on fire, attempted to burn the car dealer himself” before fleeing in the stolen Escalade, DeAndrea said.

New Jersey State Police, along with a state police helicopter, pursued Figueroa as he traveled toward New York City.

“Mr. Figueroa gets on the George Washington Bridge in an attempt to get into New York City. Port Authority police and New York State Police had set up a roadblock. Mr. Figueroa crashes the stolen Cadillac Escalade into the roadblock,” DeAndrea said.

According to reports, he crashed the vehicle into a police cruiser at a toll plaza, led officers on a chase across the bridge and crashed into another patrol car in upper Manhattan. At that point, he was taken into custody by New York State Police.

Joe Pentangelo, a spokesman for the Port Authority, said three police officers suffered lacerations and contusions and were taken for medical treatment. He said the injuries were not life-threatening.

Figueroa had serious burns and was taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York.

DeAndrea hinted that the situation could have been worse.

“I can guarantee you one thing: had that bus driver opened that door this would be a much different press conference. There’s no doubt in my mind that he would have captive students, a driver and a female on that bus, and that bus would have stuck out like a sore thumb, and when that roadblock took place — him with the shotgun in a bus — it would not have been the same ending,” DeAndrea said. “I truly believe that the school bus driver is a heroine.”

Luzerne County District Attorney Stephanie Salavantis praised the quick response from law enforcement officials.

“We’re dealing with three different states at this point that provided assistance to the situation,” she said.

jwhalen@standardspeaker.com, 570-455-3636

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